Shabbat Services
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1715 Meister Road
Lorain, OH 44053
(440) 282-3307
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Holiday Services
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Western Reserve Historical Society Jewish Resources
Holocaust Remembrance Day Program, 2024
Holocaust 2021 Memorial Video Program
Programs
The Jewish people observe Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) to remember the people murdered by the Nazi regime, and never to forget that the world can never again allow evil to overtake it as happened in the 1930s and 1940s.
The 2024 free, community program has two parts. The first half is dedicated to the Violins of Hope. These violins, belonging to people who were taken to Auschwitz, were hidden and later recovered. Several of these violins will be on display. The program will explain how they survived and a member of the Oberlin College faculty will play one. In the second half of the program, Holocaust survivor Carol Wilner from Maryland, tells her amazing story of survival, which borders on the miraculous. Carol’s granddaughter Emily Mandell, a 2023 Oberlin College School of Music graduate, will sing several songs each day.
This year the Holocaust Remembrance Day Program will be presented four times for Lorain County:
May 5 at 4:30 PM in Warner Hall at the Oberlin College Conservatory
May 6 at 7:00 PM at the Lorain Palace Theater in downtown Lorain
May 7 and May 8 at the Lorain Palace Theater in downtown Lorain. These dates are closed to the public and open only for middle and high school students. We are pleased to announce that the entire Palace Theater will be filled to capacity, which means 1400 students attending each day with 25 schools participating.
Read accounts of some Holocaust survivors and some of their Violins of Hope:
Arlene Weiner & Stanley Bernath
Alfred Eisenberg and his violin
Joyce Vanderveen and her violin
2024 Holocaust Remembrance Day Program
2026 Holocaust Remembrance Day Program
The Jewish people observe Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) to honor the memory of the six million Jews and millions of others murdered by the Nazi regime. It is also a time to reaffirm the commitment that the world must never again allow hatred, intolerance, and evil to prevail as they did during the 1930s and 1940s.
The 2026 Holocaust Remembrance Day programs were a tremendous success. On Thursday morning, May 7, we educated approximately 1,250 students. Nearly 600 students attended the Friday morning program on May 8, and approximately 1,000 community members participated in the evening program on Thursday, May 7.
The programs featured powerful first-hand testimony from Holocaust survivors. Ninety-seven-year-old Holocaust survivor, Art Gelbart, spoke at the Thursday morning program. His wife, 91-year-old Rose Gelbart, also a Holocaust survivor, shared her story at the Thursday evening program. Child survivor, Helen Marks, spoke at the Friday morning program.
All three programs also featured Jeff Schoep, a former neo-Nazi who led America's largest neo-Nazi organization for 27 years. After renouncing his beliefs in 2019, Schoep committed himself to educating others about the dangers of hatred and extremism. His presentation, “From Hate to Humanity,” described his journey away from hate and toward understanding and compassion. Today, Jeff and his partner, Acacia, travel throughout the world speaking to students and adults about the possibility of personal change. They also work to help individuals leave hate groups and build more positive, inclusive lives.
We also extend our sincere appreciation to Saige Hoffman for her moving rendition of “Eli, Eli”, Rabbi Mendel Jacobs for sharing the memorial prayer “El Malei Rachamim”, and Tracy Marie for closing the program with her powerful presentation, “My Name Was My Tattoo.”
Special thanks to Debbie and Jay Smith for their invaluable support and assistance in helping make these programs such a meaningful and successful community event.